Dementia
by riptocs
Summary: When Deidara starts acting strangely and begins forgetting things, could something be seriously wrong? Sasori is willing to do anything to make sure his boyfriend is healthy. Some SasoxDeio, implied KisaxIta, KakuxHida, and PeinxKonan
1. Something Wrong

**A/N: In this fic, Sasori is just as tall as Deidara but he can be any height! Use your imagination to picture them! And I don't own Naruto!**

Nobody knew quite when it started or how, but Deidara had started acting oddly. It was obvious to Sasori, his lover, especially in the mornings. They would wake up in bed together and the puppet master would watch as Deidara's eyes widened in slight panic as he looked around the room before suddenly relaxing.

"What's wrong, Dei?" Sasori asked, combing his hand through his lover's hair after he had calmed down.

"It's nothing, Danna, un. It's just silly."

"Tell me anyways," Sasori pestered, causing Deidara to scowl.

"I…I didn't know where I was."

Sasori raised an eyebrow and continued to stroke the blonde's long locks. "You're in our bedroom, brat. I know you just moved here a month ago, but you should be use to it by now since you practically lived here before then."

Indeed, Deidara had upped and moved into Sasori's apartment, not that the red head was complaining. He didn't like the neighborhood Deidara's old apartment was in anyways as it had an unusually high crime rate. Deidara had been assaulted a number of times walking home (he didn't own a car) and it seemed there was one time too many. Sasori was happy, in fact, with the blonde's presence in his apartment.

Deidara's scowl furthered, growing more into a pout than anything. "I told you it was silly. It was just as if…I forgot what this place was, yeah."

That wasn't the only instance Sasori noticed odd behavior, though he wasn't becoming worried _quite _yet. He would sometimes look at an object in concentration before either scowling or retrieving it.\

"Danna, will you pass me that…um…" Deidara was filling out some forms for the new art studio he and Sasori were going to be opening up.

"Hm?" Sasori looked up from his own forms, turning his attention to the blonde. Then he noticed what Deidara was staring at. It was a black stapler. Sasori frowned and picked it up. "Deidara, this is a stapler."

"I knew that, Danna, yeah!" Deidara huffed, grabbing at the offending article. Sasori grabbed his arm, however, pulling him closer.

"Then why didn't you say it?"

Deidara blushed and looked down, anywhere to get away from Sasori's piercing gaze.

"I…I forgot."

Sasori raised an eyebrow and pulled Deidara into a hug. "What's going on with you, Dei?"

Deidara shook his head and nuzzled his face into the crook of his Danna's neck. "I don't know, un…"

Sasori sighed and pulled away so he could kiss his boyfriend's forehead and card his hand through his hair.

Sasori had come to the grim conclusion that there was something wrong with his brat and he was Not Happy about that. Now came the hard task of getting Deidara to agree to go to the doctor. Sasori had never been able to get the reason out of him, but Deidara had an extreme fear of hospitals and doctors and anything medical altogether. The red head even had trouble getting him to take cold medicine.

"You've been behaving very strange lately, Dei. I think we should go to the doctor to find out what's wrong."

"No, un!" Deidara yelled, attempting to pull away from Sasori, but the red head had a firm hold on his body. He sighed, fully expecting this reaction, and pulled Deidara against him, crushing his arms against both of their chests. He would just have to do his best to calm the brat down.

"Dei, I know you're scared…I know…" Sasori muttered in between the blonde's increasingly loud sobs.

"Hush, Deidara, shhh…I'll be there the entire time if you want me…" At this Deidara stilled and pressed himself against the red head's chest and his sobs quieted.

"Danna?"

"Yes, brat?"

"Why am I crying, hm?"

Sasori's eyes widened and he thought fast, stroking Deidara's hair gently.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Kay. I'm tired, yeah."

Sasori chuckled and kissed the side of his boyfriend's head before leading him to their bedroom, forms long forgotten.

"Go to sleep then, brat." Sasori said, helping Deidara lie down in their made bed and covering him with the quilt at the foot of the bed.

The next day, Sasori decided to go ahead and drive them both to the emergency room, despite the fact that neither one of them had health insurance. Sasori supposed he should have listened to Kakuzu's advice those months ago to forgo the down payment of their new art studio in order to secure the funds they would need for health insurance. He had endured a half hour lecture about how important it was to keep up with your health insurance just in case of emergency. He sure was regretting it now, however, as he paled at what it might cost to get Deidara medical treatment.

"Danna, where are we going, hm?" Deidara asked, fiddling with a ball of clay that Sasori had thoughtfully brought along, hoping it would keep the brat calm during the stressful visit. Thankfully, they hadn't gotten within sight of the hospital building yet.

"You'll see when we get there, brat," Sasori muttered, keeping his eyes strictly on the road. He didn't want to see the hurt and betrayal in Deidara's eyes when they got within sight of the hospital.

He had considered maybe calling Hidan or Kisame to accompany them, but eventually decided against it. Hidan would be too loud and obnoxious for the hospital scene no matter how much comfort he might bring and then Kakuzu would hear about it and he would have to endure another huge lecture.

Kisame would probably be a good choice if he and Itachi weren't attached at the hip. Now, Itachi, Sasori knew, had no problem with Deidara but for some reason Deidara kept picking fights with him and when questioned about it he would clam up and not respond.

Zetsu and Tobi…no. Zetsu and Deidara didn't interact much and Tobi would just make the blonde stress out even more with his overexuberance.

The only other options were Pein and Konan and while Konan would probably try to mother Deidara, she would never go anywhere without Pein and Deidara would definitely not enjoy appearing weak in front of their stoic "leader". No…it would be better with just him and Deidara.

All too quickly for Sasori's liking they pulled into the hospital parking lot. It was eerily quiet in the seat next to him and he could almost picture the brat having a panic attack just from the proximity of the building and all of the information signs. He didn't actually look at Deidara until they pulled into a parking space.

He sat quietly for a moment, thinking about what he would say to the petrified blonde, before turning to face him. "Brat."

What he saw those, made his eyes widen in shock, not worry.

He was calm. Completely calm. In fact, he was staring out the window in total relaxation as his hands squished the clay then rolled it up in a ball again and repeated the process.

"Hm?" Deidara asked, turning to Sasori with a smile. "You should have told me we were going to the hospital, yeah. I would have brought something to read."

Sasori continued to stare as the blonde calmly opened the door and got out of the car before stretching his back. "Coming, Danna, un? What are we here for, anyway, hm?"

Walking on ice, the red head spoke softly. "To figure out why you're acting so strangely, Dei." This was almost too surreal. The brat should not be this calm!

"Oh, okay then! Let's hurry so we can get out sooner, yeah! Can we get dinner out, afterwards?"

Sasori blinked and slowly nodded. "Sure, Dei…whatever you want…"


	2. Finding Out

**A/N: Wow, that was an intense chapter…hopefully I can leave you with some more excitement! In this fic Deidara is 19 and Sasori is 35! Please do not quote me on any prices or diagnosis or whatnot, as this is FICTION!s Remember, I own nothing! Except this bag of chips…yum…**

"Iwa Deidara?"

The two males stood up and approached the nurse who quickly showed them to their room/bed with curtains hanging around it.

"My name is Haruno Sakura and I'll be your nurse while you're here. So what can we do for you?" Sasori eyed the nurse warily then prepared to speak when Deidara surprised him again.

"Danna says I'm behaving oddly, yeah, but I don't think so."

Sasori sighed. If he let this continue, they would be shuffled out of here quicker than you could say 'doctor'. "Besides the fact that you forget the names of simple objects? And that you forget where you are every morning? And that until today you were scared to death of doctors?"

Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut, because as soon as the last sentence left Sasori's mouth, Deidara immediately began tensing up and choked on a sob. Recognizing the signs of a doctor related panic attack, the red head leapt into action and pulled his blonde lover against him, hushing him softly.

Sakura raised an eyebrow but kept quiet while Sasori calmed the blonde by stroking his hair and muttering soothing words into his ear. Only when Deidara calmed down considerably though he kept his face buried in his lover's chest, did Sasori speak.

"Trust me, this is equally as surprising to me as it is to you. He was so unusually calm this morning about going to the hospital and I was shocked. This is actually his more normal behavior when faced with medical situations."

Sakura nodded and wrote down a couple of things on her pad. "I think I have enough information, then. I'll go get the doctor. She has a lot of patients, however, so you'll have to wait here for the time being."

Sasori in turn nodded before turning back to the trembling blonde as Sakura left. "Easy, Dei. It's okay."

Deidara nuzzled his face up against the crook of Sasori's neck in response, causing the red head to chuckle. "It's alright. Stay there as long as you need. I'm right here."

He ran his hand up and down the blonde's back, making his eyes grow heavy with exhaustion from crying. Sasori knew the blonde always became tired after crying and shifted so Deidara was leaning against him while he was laying back against the elevated bed.

"Go to sleep, Dei. I know you're tired." He kissed the side of Deidara's head and felt him shift closer. Sasori smile and combed his hand through Deidara's hair just the way he knew he liked it and held him until he fell asleep.

Sasori was very happy with the doctor that finally came less than a half hour later. One, she didn't make him wake the brat up and just get him all upset again and two, she kept him waiting less than he expected. And most important of all, three, she knew what was wrong with him…sort of.

"Deidara's experiencing signs of dementia and we don't know why?" Sasori repeated softly, continuing to stroke Deidara's hair as he was unable to get up without waking the brat up.

"That's right." Tsunade looked at the couple and held back a smile. She was glad, from what Sakura had told her, that Sasori was able to calm the other one down. "Most would assume he's faking and do a variety of other tests but seeing as you don't have health insurance and Sakura was quite convinced of your validity, I'll get right down to what really needs to be done." She handed him a pamphlet titled MRI. **(A/N: I'm not explaining what an MRI is in detail, but it is basically a scan and in this particular one they are going to be scanning Deidara's brain.)**

"The only problem is, since you don't have health insurance, everything is going to come out of pocket," Tsunade muttered. "All in all about $5,000 for the scan."

Sasori's eyes widened at the price, but he wasn't HUGELY worried. He was Akasuna Sasori, famous puppeteer. He mad at least that much at each show and he could always sell more of his more high quality puppets…the only problem was the upkeep up the art studio, which hadn't opened yet to start making its own income.

"Alright, it won't be a problem." He would just skip a few payments on the art studio and pay them back after his next show. No big deal. Just a little bit of extra paperwork.

"Good. Now wake the kid up and I'll get you into an MRI." Sasori scowled, dreading waking Deidara up. He could only hope that he would be as calm as before…before.

"Dei, wake up." Sasori stroked Deidara's cheek and kissed his forehead. "Come on, Dei, wake up…"

Deidara opened his eyes and froze. Luckily Sasori noticed and held onto the blonde's waist before he could jump away. "No! No, un! Let me go, Danna, yeah!"

Sasori wasn't sure if he should be relieved that Deidara was himself or worried that he was getting himself so worked up and might hurt himself.

"Deidara! Calm down!" Sasori raised his voice to be heard over the blonde's own wails and tightened his grasp as Deidara tried to push away from him. For all Sasori knew, if the blonde got away he would run and get lost or injured. Suddenly Sasori felt his lover slacken and legs gave out so he braced himself to hold Deidara up.

Looking over Deidara's shoulder, Tsunade was holding a now empty syringe. Anticipating the question or even anger, the doctor cut him off. "It was just a sedative to help him relax."

Sasori looked at the blonde who now seemed asleep in his arms. Just sleeping. Just a sedative. At least he didn't have to worry about Deidara hurting himself now.

A wheelchair was quickly brought in and Sasori gently placed Deidara in it, making sure his legs were on the holders so they wouldn't drag across the ground. He gently stroked his lover's hair then cheek, to calm himself as well as Deidara, who was out of it from the sedative.

Then he was swiftly wheeled into the MRI room and Sasori knew that if Deidara was more aware, he would be freaking out even more than before. Especially since Sasori couldn't be in there with him.

But at least now they would be able to figure out what was wrong.

All of Sasori's years of experience and pain couldn't prepare him for what Tsunade had to tell him. Brain cancer. Fucking brain cancer. He was only thankful that Deidara wasn't awake to see him so freaked out.

It may have not been so bad if it was able to be fixed with chemotherapy, which while grueling and rough on the patients, didn't cost nearly as much as the $50,000 brain surgery to remove the tumors. But no, it had to be a fucking chemotherapy-resistant type of cancer that was pressing against a number of important areas of the brain, killing brain cells and causing the brain to lose functioning.

He needed help. He couldn't handle this on his own. He might be able to come up with the money, if he didn't have to take care of the blonde whose symptoms, Tsunade had told him, would only get worse if left untreated. He picked up his cell phone and stared at it for a moment before sighing and dialing a number from speed dial.

"Pein…I need help…"


	3. Friends

**A/N: Again, don't own!**

Nagato had grown up with orphan along with Konan and another boy, Yahiko. But then Yahiko died and Nagato took on his appearance along with his many piercings and became known to everyone but Konan as Pein. He knew pain. He grew up with pain. He wished the world would share his pain.

But this…Pein had never wished his pain on someone like Deidara. The boy was the youngest of their little group (though Tobi acted like a five year old with ADHD) and everyone, including him, had taken a liking to him. He was outgoing, kind, and brought a sense of happiness to a lot of the older members who knew the world better. He might even go as far as to say Deidara was…_innocent._

So when Pein heard Sasori's plea for help for Deidara's cause, he felt the need to act.

"Who was it?" Konan asked him, obviously seeing how stiff his posture had become and knew something was wrong.

"Sasori. We need to call the rest of the Akatsuki." The Akatsuki, the name of their band of misfits of society. The group Pein had gathered to help achieve his goals. He only took the best, Sasori and Deidara because of their artistic skill and ability to raise funds, Kakuzu for his money management and medical expertise, Hidan for his connections with the church, albeit the Jashinism sector, and charisma, Kisame for his connections to the police force and mighty build, Itachi for his inherited wealthy business and well-versed assassination skills, Zetsu for his dealings in the underground and his unscrupulous spy network as well as his botanical knowledge, and Tobi…he wasn't quite sure why he kept Tobi around. Just to liven up the place, he supposed. And to annoy Deidara.

Not even an hour later and all of the Akatsuki were called and they were all huddled in the artists' apartment, where Deidara was in their bed sleeping off the sedative. Sasori looked despondent and more pale than usual and Pein didn't blame them. All of them were shaken up by the news.

"Fucking brain cancer? What are the fucking odds?" Hidan cursed at the situation, like he did at everything he didn't like.

"Sempai's gonna die! We have to save him!"

"Shut the fuck up, you orange shithead! Deidara's not going to die…right?" Hidan looked at Kakuzu and Sasori.

Kakuzu sighed when Sasori gave no sign of answering. "He will die if he doesn't get the surgery. If you had just listened to me…"

"Don't you fucking start, Kakuzu. Don't you think I'm feeling guilty enough?" Sasori felt like he was being chewed up and swallowed by the guilt he felt for not listening to Kakuzu about the health insurance. Now it would be impossible to come up with the money for the surgery as well as what he had to pay for the initial brain scan.

"There must be other options," Itachi said softly after a few moments, sitting straight and tense. He cared for the blonde as well no matter how many fights the younger tried to pick with him. "Somewhere that you could get the operation done for less money."

Kakuzu hummed at that and nodded. "You could always get it done out of the country for a lot less. I'll look into it for you and find you a hospital…maybe in Canada or Mexico?" Kakuzu was a retired doctor and thus had a lot of connections in the medical community. Plus he of all people would be the best to look for the place to get it done cheapest yet with utmost safety. He wouldn't risk the blonde's health, even for money.

"I can start asking around the force for a few loans which you can start paying back once you get the surgery paid off. And of course, I'll lend you some money as well." Kisame put in. He saw Deidara as a younger brother and would do almost anything to ensure his well being. Hell, he even let Deidara stay in his apartment one winter when the blonde's heater was broken.

"And I'll fucking ask the fucking church to start up a fucking fund. We'll get you that money, puppet fucker." Hidan couldn't help but be attached to the blonde. Deidara's happy attitude naturally drew Hidan in and they often hung out together.

"I think I can find some herbs that **might help with his symptoms.**" Zetsu said, both personalities pitching in. He didn't interact with Deidara much, but he couldn't just let him suffer. They were a group and they needed to stick together.

"I'll help Sempai too! I'll make him cookies and fetch his clay and-"

"DANNA!" Everyone grew silent and Sasori stood up, eyes narrowing in concern. He motioned for everyone to stay where they were and hurried up to their bedroom. Deidara was a mess of tangled blonde hair and wide blue eyes, back huddled against the headboard as he glanced around fearfully.

"Dei, you're okay, what's the matter?" Sasori slowly stalked closer to the bed and his eyes widened in surprise when Deidara all but leapt into his arms.

"Danna! I didn't know where you were, un!" Sasori let out a slow breath and stroked Deidara's hair. "Is that all? Don't scare me like that…"

"And I don't know where we are…and I was scared, yeah…"

Sasori froze and gazed down at the blonde with a sudden understanding. If he woke up in a place he didn't recognize with nobody there, he would be quite upset as well.

"We're back in our bedroom, Dei," Sasori said softly, continuing to card his hand through Deidara's hair.

"Oh…I better get back to my apartment and get ready for work, then…"

Sasori's eyes widened again. He had forgotten about moving in with him, or that he had quit from his old job at Starbucks to join Sasori in his development of the art studio? He was about to say something when Deidara spoke again.

"No…that's not right…I quit…right, hm?" Sasori smiled and nodded.

"That's right, Dei. And you moved in with me and now we're opening an art studio soon."

The blonde smiled and rested his head on Sasori's chest. "An art studio…that sounds nice…I'll be able to show my art there, right, un?"

Sasori chuckled and kissed the top of Deidara's head. "That's right. Though I really don't think your exploding sculptures should be considered art…"

"Danna! That's mean!" Deidara pouted, pulling away from Sasori and crossing his arms. "I thought you said you wouldn't insult my art anymore, yeah!"

Indeed, before they had started going out the two artists were almost constantly at each other's throats about whose art was superior. Deidara often argued that art, like life, was fleeting and was only worth seeing if it disappeared seconds later, making the viewer lament on it even more and displayed his opinion with his exploding sculptures. Sasori, however, insisted that true art was something everlasting that would be around for generations to enjoy and become ingrained in a person's mind, which he displayed with his everlasting puppets.

But now, their arguments grew less and less frequent as they became more civil to one another and they almost completely stopped when they started going out. But each one still held a strong opinion about what they thought was art. They just stopped fighting about it as much.

Sasori's smile grew and he held his hands in a surrendering gesture. "I was going to say if it's art to you, then you're more than welcome to show it. Just don't go exploding things inside!"

Deidara laughed and hugged his boyfriend again, pecking his cheek. "I won't blow anything up _inside_, yeah. I promise."

"Good enough, brat. Now, are you hungry?" Sasori figured he would be after sleeping off the effects of the sedative. He was also a bit alarmed that Deidara apparently had no memory of the earlier hospital visit, otherwise he would still be jumpy and upset. But if this was the way things were going to happen until he got the operation…

"I want bakudan, yeah!"

Sasori grinned. Deidara always asked for his favorite food when he was sick or having a bad day. It was a pain to make, but thankfully he could just go pick some up from take-out.

"All right, all right." Sasori's smile grew along with Deidara's. He was just so glad to see the blonde happy and smiling, he would get Deidara anything he wanted.


	4. Support

**A/N: I made Sasori and Deidara 35 and 19 respectively to keep their original ages. But they met when Deidara was 17 and just becoming a part of the Akatsuki. Again, no owning of anything here.**

"Dei, are you sure you're ready to go see the others in the living room?"

Deidara blinked and looked at Sasori as he tilted his head slightly. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be, un?"

The red head let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. He wasn't sure how bad Deidara's memory problems had gotten, more specifically if he even remembered their friends.

"No reason. Sit down so I can brush your hair." Deidara grinned at this. He loved having his hair brushed and Sasori knew it. He scrambled onto the bed, his back facing his lover, and the red head began to brush his thick blonde locks.

"Sasori-no-danna?" Deidara asked after a few minutes as the red haired man finished up by tying up his hair in his usual high ponytail except for the fringe that he always kept over his left eye.

"Hm?" He looked at Deidara, surprised to find the younger male's eyes full of sorrow and anxiety.

"I…I remember what happened now…the…hospital…" Deiara choked back a sob, trying to hold back the glistening tears that were evident in his eyes.

Quickly, Sasori took Deidara into his arms and kissed his forehead. "It's alright. It's over now."

He held the blonde gently against his chest and thankfully felt his lover's breathing calm. He really wasn't sure if he could handle another breakdown so soon.

"There we go, Dei. Just calm down and we'll go downstairs and see everyone then I'll get you your bakudan. Okay?" Sasori felt Deidara nod against his chest and he slowly stroke the blonde's hair. He held Deidara close as they traveled into the living room and he could feel the blonde looking at every face.

"Dei?" It was Kisame that spoke first, getting up to approach the blonde. Sasori stiffened, unsure how Deidara would respond to the large blue man due to his possibly effected memory, but relaxed when he felt Deidara relax.

"Kisa," he muttered, entering Kisame's outstretched arms when he got close enough. "I've missed you so much, yeah!"

Kisame grinned and ruffled the top of Deidara's hair. "Missed you too, kid. It's been a while."

Indeed it had been a while; Kisame had earned himself a promotion in work and had taken on more hours, leaving less time to visit friends. Even Itachi, his stoic boyfriend, complained that he worked too much. But Kisame rationalized that there would be plenty of time for rest and relaxation when he was old and grey and he wanted to do his part for society now. Only now he was just starting to figure out that being a police officer doesn't put everything into black and white…

"Anything interesting at work, lately?"

Kisame smirked. "Dei, you know I can't talk about that. Classified information. But if you must know, I did get to participate in a drug raid last week."

"With the information that **we gave you.**"

"Zetsu, un!" Deidara cried, practically leaping out of Kisame's grasp to hug the half white, half black man. This action made the entire Akatsuki raise their eyebrows, however. Deidara was never very close to Zetsu, certainly not enough to warrant a hug, and not only that he sometimes confessed to his closer friends that the oddly colored man freaked him out.

So it would have been perfectly reasonable for Zetsu to have gotten freaked out and possibly injured the blonde, but he surprised everyone by taking it all in stride. "'Sup, kid? **Let go of me before I eat you.**"

Well, half of him was kind to Deidara, but the blonde didn't even notice the black half's voice though he did let go of him. "What do you mean with the information you gave him, hm?"

Kisame chuckled at this before giving Deidara a toothy smile. "Zetsu was having some problems with competitors so he fed me the location of their hideout. We scored big!"

"Sempai!" Everyone winced as the masked man tackled Deidara in a hug, having been released by Zetsu when the blonde hugged him. But surprisingly, instead of yelling for the childish man to get off and leave him alone, Deidara laughed.

"Good to see you too, buddy, yeah!" He smiled and pat Tobi's shoulder, the other man's mask being the only thing concealing his shock. The others were much more obvious.

"What the fuck, Deidara? When the hell did you ever start liking fucking Tobi? Are you fucking –" Hidan was interrupted from his tirade by Kakuzu hitting him hard on the back of the head.

"Moron," Kakuzu muttered, as everyone looked at Deidara again.

The blonde's thoughts were written on his face; shock mixed with confusion. "What do you mean 'start liking Tobi', hm? Tobi and I are great friends…right?"

"Yeah! Tobi really likes his sempai! And Tobi is glad that Sempai likes him too!"

Deidara grinned then looked back at the others, who were making him uncomfortable with his staring. "So yeah…you guys are acting strange, un. What's wrong with me being friends with Tobi?"

Hidan was about to speak when he was shoved to the floor by Sasori with a loud "FUCK!"

"Nothing's wrong at all, brat. They're all just happy to see you again, right?"

"Yeah, we've all really missed hanging around together." Konan spoke up for the first time; she and Pein had been quietly observing the scene and she had had enough. The wrongness of the situation was obvious.

She, like the others, had been fond of and oddly protective of the younger blonde. Most of the others chalked it up to her maternal instincts, but she always kept an eye on Deidara from afar, making sure he had groceries in his fridge and installing a new heating unit in the blonde's apartment after a few weeks of living with Kisame.

He always thought it was Kisame or Sasori who installed that…

"Yeah, we're just glad to be back together again, right Itachi?" He glanced sideways at his boyfriend, who gave no hint of a smile with his mouth, but his eyes held compassion if not for Deidara, than for Kisame, who he knew cared for the blonde a lot.

"I am happy to see you all as well," he spoke softly, keeping his eyes on Deidara. The blonde got up after giving Tobi another friendly pat and turned his eyes on Itachi. Everyone thought they knew what to expect. Deidara would either glare or get all up in Itachi's face. Nobody knew why, but that was the pattern, ever since Kisame introduced the raven to the group.

"It's really nice to see you too, Itachi!" To the man's credit, the only sign of his surprise was a slight widening of his eyes before the corners of his lips tilted upwards, giving the blonde a small, rare smile.


	5. Brother

**A/N: I've recently learned that these prices are actually way UNDERexagerated. So the lesson of this story is, make sure all of your health insurance is in order even if you're perfectly healthy! Because even if you get in an accident or something, you'll have to eat all of these thousands of dollars worth of bills!**

**Anyways, I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long but I've been having a mild case of writers block but today inspiration kicked me back into action! Let's just hope it lasts!**

Deidara had been sleeping in later and later with each passing day, but Sasori didn't mind. The more time Deidara was asleep, the more time he could spend preparing for next week's art show that would pay off his love's MRI. During the hours Deidara wasn't asleep, he would either be spending time with Sasori, cooking (as it was a favorite pastime of his), and practicing his atrocious form of art.

At the moment, Sasori was whittling away at a puppet arm, contemplating on exactly what shade of red to use for this puppet's hair, when Deidara burst into the bedroom, as he was prone to doing. He was covered in dried clay and brimming with so much happiness that Sasori couldn't help but smile for a second before replacing his expression with a scowl.

"Brat, you're going to make a mess if you walk around with clay all over yourself. I thought I told you to keep it in the kitchen."

Completely ignoring his words, Deidara crawled onto the bed next to the puppet master just because he knew he could get away with it even as pieces of dry clay came off of him in clumps onto the blanket.

"But Daaannaaaa," God, he hated it when Deidara whined like that. It just made it all the more impossible to deny him his requests. "I was hoping you would come outside with me while I showcased my art, yeah!"

He groaned and rested his head in his hand. He really really really didn't want to deny him this, but he absolutely hated the explosions he insisted on calling art. But he was Sasori's lover and he was bound to make some sacrifices. God knows Deidara had made his fair share, giving up his own apartment to be with Sasori.

"Alright, alright." Deidara let out a manic grin and Sasori groaned again. "Troublesome brat."

He helped Deidara carry the two boxes of clay figurines out to the car, not peeking as Deidara instructed. It was childish that Deidara didn't want him to see his art until the last minute, but he didn't mind.

When it was finally time, Sasori was reminded of other times that he watched the blonde showcase his art. He would launch the figurines into the air and they would explode into colorful, finely grained powder and let off spectacular lights. He would get tips from people who watched, using that money to contribute to the development of the art studio as well as most of his salary from his former job at Starbucks.

This time was the same as always, but when Deidara opened the first box Sasori visibly flinched. Instead of the elaborate, proportional, finely colored pieces he was use to seeing the blonde display, they were…something else. He held up what was supposed to be an eagle, but the wings were terribly lopsided and the colors were all wrong. He then looked at what looked like a wolf, but one leg was missing and another leg was missing a paw.

There were a plethora of these flawed figurines until Sasori figured out that they were all like that. Deidara…an artist who always took such pride in his work…

"Danna? Is everything okay, un?" Deidara walked towards the red head, who was supposed to unpack the figurines but was instead staring at them.

Sasori's eyes widened as Deidara approached and quickly gathered him into a hug, kissing his lips passionately.

"I promise I'll make you better. I'll get the money." Sasori muttered, burying his face into Deidara's long blonde locks.

"What do mean, Danna, hm?" Deidara had already forgotten the trip to the hospital and the MRI and how he had gotten the deadly diagnosis and Sasori wasn't about to remind him and traumatize him by reminding him of it.

"Nothing, Dei. Here, I'll help you launch these." The blonde grinned, pleased that Sasori was actually helping him with his art.

The performance was just as flawed as the figures: the colors were off and some of them made too much noise and the ones that were supposed to have special effects failed so Deidara didn't get as many tips as usual (not that Sasori let him do the actual counting, no way he was going to risk Deidara getting depressed), but they still spent the afternoon together in the park and Sasori took his lover out to dinner afterwards.

-scene change-

"You guys are all set, right?" It had been a hard four days of travelling for the couple to get to where Sasori's show was being held at and they had brought along Kisame and Itachi to help look after Deidara while the red head was working at his show.

Right now, they were in the hotel room Sasori had gotten for the stay and the red head was doing some last minute checks on a couple of his puppets. Deidara was lying down on his and Sasori's bed, the one closest to the window, curled up asleep. The travelling had been extremely tough on the blonde because he kept getting carsick, but Sasori was more worried about Deidara's functioning in an unfamiliar environment, especially without him there most of the time.

"Don't worry, Puppet Boy. Itachi and I have got this." Kisame motioned to Itachi, who was calmly smoothing down the blanket around Deidara's huddled form. "We'll get him some soup or something when he wakes up. We'll take good care of him and we even brought some of his clay, remember? He won't even notice you're gone until you're back late tonight."

Sasori sighed, anxious about leaving Deidara alone even if it was with someone he trusted, but he had to do this show.

"All right. I'll be back later, then." Sasori exited the hotel room to drive over to the studio where he would be putting on his show, still thinking of his blonde lover.

"Ngh…Danna?" Deidara opened his eyes when he heard the door close and froze. Where was he? Was he in his room again, even if he didn't recognize it? He could remember Sasori soothing him, telling him he was in their room even when he wasn't familiar with it. Was this one of those times?

He looked up and saw blue. Blue skin and a toothy smile. The familiar face of Kisame.

"Hey, Dei, how are you feeling?" A blue hand touched his forehead before its owner affirmed that he didn't have a fever.

"Better, I think…" Deidara sat up slowly and was supported by a pale figure he recognized as Itachi, one of Kisame's friends.

"You're still a bit pale," Itachi noted softly, propping up the blonde with pillows, "you think you can stomach some soup if we order room service?"

Deidara nodded as his eyes travelled around the room before speaking softly. "Where's Danna, un?"

Kisame tensed as Itachi spoke calmly once again, afraid of upsetting the blonde. "He went to take care of his show. You remember his show, right?" At Deidara's nod he continued.

"He didn't want to make you come since you weren't feeling so well, so he decided to take care of it while you rested. He'll be back late tonight, okay?"

After a moment of Deidara's slight fidgeting at the idea of being away from Sasori, he nodded. During the weeks since Deidara's diagnosis, not that he remembered it specifically, Sasori hadn't left his side at the house. Indeed, it was either Kisame and Itachi or Hidan and Kakuzu who were taking care of the grocery shopping so Deidara wouldn't be stressed by either dealing with the stresses of shopping or being alone in what could quickly become an unfamiliar house.

"Alright then, do you want something to eat? We can order in some soup if you want," Kisame spoke, drawing Deidara back to the subject of food.

"Can I get chicken noodle soup, hm?"

Kisame smiled and ruffled Deidara's hair. "Sure, kiddo."

Deidara huffed and straightened his hair as Kisame got the hotel phone and ordered Deidara's soup as well as a couple of sandwiches for himself and Itachi. When he was done, he came back over and sat down next to Itachi, giving him a light peck on the lips.

The effect was instantaneous.

Deidara flew out of the bed, screeching and clawing at any part of Itachi he could get before being forcibly subdued by Kisame's large form.

While Itachi checked himself for injuries, Kisame held onto the blonde tight in a restraining hug.

"Dei? Dei! Dei, what's the matter with you?!"

The screeches turned into sobs and tears started flowing down Deidara's cheeks and Kisame shifted so Deidara was resting against his broad chest.

"Dei, come on, buddy, calm down and tell me what's going on. Why did you attack Itachi like that? He didn't do anything to you."

Deidara couldn't speak through his sobs and Itachi started to come forward before he was waved away by Kisame.

"Come on, Dei. Speak to me, kiddo. What happened? Tell me so I can help."

After a few more shuddering sobs, his answer came. It was almost too soft for Itachi's ears to pick up from the few feet away he was, but he heard it loud and clear. "He's going to take you away from me…"

It crashed down in a mountain of understanding so suddenly on both Itachi and Kisame. The reason for the blonde's unreasonable hatred for Itachi, which had gone away after some memories were lost, but were then brought to light again with a single action.

Deidara hated Itachi for dating Kisame. Deidara hated Itachi for dating Kisame because he was jealous. Deidara hated Itachi for dating Kisame because he was jealous and he was afraid of losing one of his best friends to someone he barely knew.

Nobody had understood it so nobody had been able to assuage the blonde's fears.

Thankfully, it would be different this time.

"No, Dei, nobody is going to take me away. Right, Itachi?"

The pale man nodded when blue eyes met his.

"I'm going to be here for you as long as you want me. No matter what happens, I'll be right here." It was true. Even if he had to sleep outside the blonde's apartment door because he had nowhere else nearby to stay for the boy, he would do it.

"And let me tell you something, Dei. I don't think Itachi is even trying to take me away from you."

Deidara looked at Itachi again back from meeting Kisame's gaze.

Itachi gave Deidara a small smile before moving closer. "Kisame is right, Deidara. You are very important of him, so I would never dream of trying to take him away from you. He wouldn't be happy without you. And I know that you're angry with me right now, but I hope that I can become someone important in your life too."

He didn't mention why, because that would mean admitting that Deidara seemed to light up the world around him with his bright blonde hair and his winning personality. And Itachi, being Itachi, kept those kinds of things to himself.

A knock on the door signaled the arrival of their food and Itachi rose as he doubted Deidara would willingly give up his position in Kisame's lap after that breakdown. He had witnessed how the blonde acted with Sasori and assumed it was the physical contact afterwards that helped him calm down.

"Deidara, are you ready for your soup?" Itachi asked, bringing the steaming bowl over to give to the blonde.

Deidara nodded eagerly and took the soup from Itachi's hands before looking at him again and giving him a warm smile. "Thanks, Itachi-nii."

Itachi gave the blonde another one of his rare smiles, which weren't becoming rare at all where Deidara was concerned, and gently ruffled the blonde's hair. "You're welcome, otouto."

Deidara huffed and straightened his hair again before devouring his soup.


End file.
